I've recently purchased a new iMac and was wondering about the Fan noise. I can hear the fan in the background when the room is quiet, but I am worried about this as I've read a lot of people saying their Macs are silent?

I'm new to Macs and not really sure how loud they should be. Compared to the fan on my PCs is a great deal quieter, but it is a concern of mine. I'm going to have a listen to them more closely when I go back to the apple store but I wanted to ask you guys if this was normal?

No fan is "silent". You're probably hearing what is considered "normal". Keep in mind that your house is a great deal quieter than an Apple Store. I do however recommend returning to the Apple store and giving them a listen. I recommend that you put your ear right near the fan on both units. Try to note the pitch of each, along with the volume.

Usually you can find sound clips on the net if you want to compare the pitch of your machine vs. others.

Mine is "silent" but I dare say if the fans were disconnected it would be more silent.

Put it in context: the iMac is the quietest computer I've ever used (PDAs aside!) but in my very quiet study if I get close and listen I can hear something._________________iMac intel CoreDuo 17" 1Gb
WD My Book Premium fw320Gb x2
Logitech S530, iPod Nano 2Gb

I did try and download the iStat widget but for some reason it wont register the CPU temp or fans, "no sensor found" it says. So I downloaded another widget - core duo temp. With Safari, Mail and a BBC Radio Player Widget open it states the temp is around 39-43C..

The problem is this is my first Mac and I'm used the sound of the fan on my PC or work laptop, my PC in particular sounds like a harrier jumpjet compared to the Mac, similarly the ThinkPad I use for work is quite noisy compared to the Mac. For example when the Mac's been in sleep mode I hit the space bar, it comes back to life and I hear a fan kick in for a second, then all I can hear is the rush of air being sucked into the intake behind it's 'foot'. The noise is really quiet to be fair, it's a fairly small room and I can hear the clocks on the walls ticking very clearly. There IS a definite sound though so I think I will check in the Apple store this week.

I did try and download the iStat widget but for some reason it wont register the CPU temp or fans, "no sensor found" it says. So I downloaded another widget - core duo temp. With Safari, Mail and a BBC Radio Player Widget open it states the temp is around 39-43C..

it comes back to life and I hear a fan kick in for a second, then all I can hear is the rush of air being sucked into the intake behind it's 'foot'. The noise is really quiet to be fair, it's a fairly small room and I can hear the clocks on the walls ticking very clearly. There IS a definite sound though so I think I will check in the Apple store this week.

The fan kicking in briefly is nothing to worry about its just a reset after sleep.

Well I wanted to update this thread. I went in the Apple Store (Trafford Centre) and tried to listen out for the fan noise of the Macs they had in there, but of course the ambient noise level in the store is huge and thus I couldn't hear anything! So after I had a chat with one of the guys behind the counter he recommended I book it in at the Genius Bar. I took it in the following day and they recommended I leave my Mac with them for a full diagnositc and they would check the volume of the fans etc and noise level of the Mac. I got a phonecall from the Genius today, she said that they had found no problems with the diagnostic and they had compared the noise of my Mac with the ones they had in the store and actually found my Mac to be QUIETER than theirs, which I find a bit mad. Maybe it is just me being neurotic!

If you mean is it quieter than my previous machine yes but then anything would be quieter than that thing!

LOL

My iMac is quieter than an external HDD I own, but then again that was noisier than my Shuttles! I sit in a quiet room and I have to put my ear near the iMac to hear anything - use of the DVD drive aside._________________iMac intel CoreDuo 17" 1Gb
WD My Book Premium fw320Gb x2
Logitech S530, iPod Nano 2Gb

I have an external USB drive which when idle actually makes more noise than the Mac, my PC just drowns absolutely everything else out in the room, I have a ThinkPad for work and that is louder than the Mac. So comparitively speaking it is the quietest computer I have used.

However I must say the sound I can hear appears to be coming out of the front of the screen as you can't hear the same thing when listening round the back of the unit. I guess it is more apparent late at night, earlier on if the central heating is on and the TV downstairs etc I struggle to hear it.

I am still not 100% on the noises I can hear from the Mac but again I have nothing to compare it to, if I knew someone with a Mac I could listen to theirs to see what it was like in a quiet room, it's pointless trying to listen to them in the shops as there is too much ambient noise. I guess I will just have to try and get used to it Thing is when I first got the Mac out of the box I thought it was really quiet, I am not sure if it has got louder as it's bedded in over the past few weeks, or maybe it is purely my imagination. I am sorry about this thread in a way I am just sharing my neurosis with everyone else here.